Inquiry on violence against Indigenous woman heads to Arctic Canada

Inquiry commissioners Qajaq Robinson (left) and Michèle Audette (right), pictured above in Membertou, Nova Scotia in October 2017, will be at the Rankin Inlet hearings next week. (Andrew Vaughan/|The Canadian Press)

A national inquiry into crimes against Indigenous woman will hold it’s first hearing in the Canadian Arctic next week.

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls heads to the Inuit community of Rankin Inlet on Monday for hearings from February 20 to 22.

Twenty family members and violence survivors are scheduled to speak at both public and private hearings.

Qajaq Robinson and Michèle Audette, two of the inquiry’s four current commissioners, will be at the Rankin Inlet sessions.

Rocky process

The Rankin Inlet hearings were previously scheduled to take place in December 2017 but were abruptly cancelled.

Pauktuutit, an organization that represents Inuit women across Canada and has standing at the inquiry, issued a news release at the time denouncing the decision. They said the lack of communication and coordination caused Inuit to be “put through a roller coaster of emotions” and that the inquiry seemed ” resistant to advice from Pauktuutit and other organizations.”

There have been reoccurring concerns by Inuit leaders since the inquiry was set up that Inuit-specific issues, including the Arctic location of the vast majority of communities and high violence rates in territories like Nunavut, were not being taken into account.

However, the inquiry has worked to quell those concerns, and has underlined commissioner Qajaq Robinson’s fluency in Inuktitut, ties to the North and longterm legal work in Nunavut including as a Crown prosecutor.

Long-standing crisis

Elisapee Sheutiapik, former mayor of the Arctic Canadian city of Iqaluit holds a photo of Mary Ann Birmingham, who was 15 when she was murdered in Iqaluit in 1986. Sheutiapik was at the National Roundtable on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Ottawa on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

The inquiry was set up by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2015 after calls from many Indigenous leaders, groups and organisations to examine the high rates of violence against indigenous women in Canada.

However, some Indigenous groups and leaders said numerous Canadian inquiries and studies had already been conducted, including the landmark Truth and Reconciliation Commission report into the residential school legacy, that explored the issues and crisis in Inuit, First Nations and Métis communities, and that the millions of dollars spent on the current inquiry would be better spent on community-based, Indigenous-led programs, social services and education.

Process criticized

Since the beginning, the inquiry has been run out of the Prime Minister’s office, not by a government ministry typically responsible for Indigenous files, and has received frequent criticism on everything from lack of focus, to lack of transparency and communication with families, communities and the public.

There’s also been numerous, revolving staff resignations, including from Marilyn Poitras in 2017, one of the original five appointed commissioners.

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is a journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project.
Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.
Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the violent death of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on violence and trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.
Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.
Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."
Twitter: @Arctic_EQ
Email: eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

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